Biggest Stories of 2012

From Syria and Egypt to the presidential election and David Petraeus, 2012 has had its fair share of big stories.

Connecticut State Police lead children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., following a shooting there Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Newtown Bee, Shannon Hicks)

Congressional leaders speak to reporters outside the White House in Washington, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012, following a meeting with President Barack Obama to discuss the looming fiscal cliff.(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

CIA Director David Petraeus resigned after admitting to an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.(AP Photo/ISAF)

President Barack Obama, center, tours the Shwedagon Pagoda with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. It was the first trip by a sitting U.S. president to the country.(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Vice President Joe Biden talks to President Barack Obama at their election night party Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, in Chicago, after winning reelection.(AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

President Barack Obama is greeted by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie upon his arrival at Atlantic City International Airport, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, in Atlantic City, NJ. Obama traveled to region to take an aerial tour of the Atlantic Coast in New Jersey in areas damaged by superstorm Sandy.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Superstorm Sandy struck the North East on Monday, October 30, 2012. Damage to the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, N.J. is pictured.(AP Photo/New Jersey Governor's Office, Tim Larsen)

A fire fighter surveys the smoldering ruins of a house in the Breezy Point section of New York, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. More than 50 homes were destroyed in a fire which swept through the oceanfront community during superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

On October 18, 2012, Newsweek announced that it's last print edition would appear on December 31, 2012.(THE DAILY SHOW/COMEDY CENTRAL)

President Barack Obama listens to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney during the first presidential debate at the University of Denver, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012, in Denver.(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Glass, debris and overturned furniture are strewn inside a room in the gutted U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012.(AP Photo/Ibrahim Alaguri)

Senate Candidate Todd Akin, R-Mo., propelled himself to the national spotlight on August 19, 2012 when he said that pregnancy rarely occurs from "legitimate rape," as "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Akin went on to lose his Senate bid.(AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

Mitt Romney introduces U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate during a campaign event at the retired battleship USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, Virginia, August 11, 2012.(REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

Police are pictured outside of a Century 16 movie theatre where 12 people were killed and dozens injured at a shooting during the showing of a movie at the in Aurora, Colo., Friday, July 20, 2012.(AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the key components of President Obama's health care law.(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

After a year-long Republican primary, Mitt Romney clinched the Republican nomination for president on May 29, 2012. In what will likely be the biggest story of the year, he now continues his campaign for the White House against President Obama.(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Turmoil in Egypt's transition to democracy has continued in 2012. Egyptians went to the polls over the weekend of June 16, reportedly electing Islamist Mohammed Morsi president. On June 14, a panel of judges dissolved Egypt's parliament, ruling its election unconstitutional.(AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

Facebook went public on May 18, 2012, with the largest IPO ever for a tech company at $38 a share. Share prices quickly plummeted.(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

On June 25, the United States Supreme Court struck down most of Arizona's controversial immigration law, SB1070. Supporters of the decision celebrate in Phoenix.
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

As revealed in early May, JPMorgan Chase lost at least $3 billion in bad trades from the so-called 'London Whale'. As part of the fallout, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon (pictured) was asked to testify to the Senate Banking Committee.(Chet Susslin)

The crisis in Syria has escalated through 2012 as the government of Bashar al-Assad continues its extreme crackdown on Syrian rebels and protesters. The U.S. and the international community have come under increasing pressure to act. Explosions in Damascus are pictured.(AP Photo/SANA)

The economic crisis in the eurozone has wracked Europe in 2012 and looms ever larger over the United States. On June 9, Spain accepted a European bailout for its ailing banks.(AP Photo/Paul White)

In 2012, Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and the use of Super PACs have changed the nature of political fundraising. Adelson and his family donated $21 million to a Super PAC associated with Newt Gingrich during the GOP primary, and he has since given $10 million to a Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Chongqing Party secretary Bo Xilai was removed from China's leadership on March 15, 2012, in one of the biggest government shakeups since 1989. Bo is implicated in a still growing corruption scandal that threatens to derail China's once-a-decade leadership transition later in 2012.(AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

Tension between the United States and Iran over Iran's nuclear program has peaked this year. At the end of May, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said that the United States is prepared to stop Iran from creating nuclear weapons.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Unemployment in the United States has continued to be the overriding story of 2012. Unemployment reached 8.2 percent at the end of May.